About this Artist
Born in Dublin, Ireland, mezzo-soprano FIONA MURPHY (Mercédès) is a graduate of University College Dublin, and the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. She was a finalist in the 2005 Hans Gabor Belevedere Competition and took part in the Operalia Competition, Madrid. She was also the First Prize winner of the Feis Ceol Competition, Ireland, as well as the Olive Watson Young Singer Award, Belfast.
She has been a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio for the past three years. She has performed with Opera Ireland, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre Company, Co Opera Ireland, Lyric Opera Productions, and the Royal Irish Academy Opera Studio both in principal and supporting roles. She has appeared on several occasions in concert at the National Concert Hall Dublin, and has performed in concert works including Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Beethoven’s Mass in C. She has also appeared as a featured artist on RTE Radio’s Theatre Nights, Anna Livia Radio Dublin, and on the popular television show The Late Late Show on RTE Ireland.
While at the Curtis Institute she performed the roles of Cherubino, Mother Goose, Concepción (L’heure espagnole), The Secretary (The Consul), Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), Il Patre (L’enfant et les sortilèges), and several scenes programs, which included roles such as Rosina, Dorabella, and Carmen with the Curtis Opera Theatre. She has performed with the Opera Company of Philadelphia in the role of Tebaldo in Don Carlos.
With Houston Grand Opera she has performed the roles of Kate Pinkerton, The Fox (The Little Prince), Arete (Lysistrata – world premiere), Cherubino, Mercédès, Stephano, Zerlina (under the baton of Patrick Summers), Hansel in a new production of Hansel und Gretel by director and puppeteer Basil Twist, and most recently the role of Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen in April 2007, for which she received great acclaim. For Houston Grand Opera, Fiona Murphy has also covered the roles of Poppea, Carmen, and Idamante.
Recent engagements include appearances with the Wolf Trap Opera Company singing Stephano and Eurydice (Telemann’s Orpheus), the title role in Carmen with the Lyric Opera Productions Dublin,and Minerva in Il ritorno d’Ulisse with Chicago Opera Theatre conducted by Jane Glover.
Future engagements include the role of Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Lola in Cavalleria rusticana, and Dorabella in Così fan tutte at English National Opera, concerts of The Bohemian Girl with the Royal Irish Society, and Annio in La clemenza di Tito with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Edward Gardner.